I've walked by the Adler Planetarium on previous visits but I've never gone in. I decided to give it a try this visit. I followed the signs for parking and wound up in an underground parking lot next to Veteran's Stadium. It turns out it's a very long walk past a lot of much cheaper parking to get to the planetarium from there. Even more annoying was the fact that it was raining off and on.

I eventually reached the planetarium and went in. I bought tickets to Space Junk 3D in the Samuel C. Johnson Family Star Theater and Welcome to the Universe and Cosmic Wonder in the Grainger Sky Theater. I started exploring the exhibits until it was time for the first show.

The planetarium had a lot of interesting exhibits. Unlike many science museums, many of the displays were intended for adult audiences. I quickly realized that I was going to have to rush to manage to see everything.

Many of the exhibits were not what I'd expect to find in a planetarium. For instance, they had a large collection of old, and, in many cases, historically significant, telescopes. They also had a large collection of planetary machines, some of which were over 300 years old. I also went into the Atwood Sphere, which was the first planetarium in Chicago when it was installed in 1913.

In addition to the unusual exhibits, they had ones I had expected on the solar system and the universe. I thought the exhibits were very good.

I also liked the three shows I saw. The two theaters were both quite good and the shows were well done.

I left Chicago and headed for Western Springs, a suburb of Chicago, for my reservation at Vie. I met my friend from Chicago there. We both ordered the 8-course tasting menu although I got some vegetarian substitutions. We both thought our dinner was very good. This restaurant is much different from Perrenial Virant even though they both have the same chef.